


Wake-Up Call

by obsolete_theory (ersatzbeta)



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Present Tense, WAFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-17
Updated: 2011-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:53:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ersatzbeta/pseuds/obsolete_theory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the road, they'll take any port in a storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake-Up Call

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is complete as is: it is permanently unfinished and cuts off rather abruptly. I've tinkered with it for nearly a year, but I couldn't get it past a certain point and so am washing my hands of it. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Gojyo dreams about three very friendly ladies having a splashing fight in a giant washtub full of beer. He hops in, intent on joining the fun, shedding his shirt and pants in one smooth move.  The women press up against him, against his sides and back and he can feel them all caressing him, cooing in his ears about how hot he is, how much they want him. And then a burst of pain because the lady on his left is suddenly the only one there and she is his mother, looming above him and pinching his earlobe with her long, sharp nails. His mother screams at him, her mouth forming words but all he hears is screeching. Her face is twisted in a snarl and she grips him harder and harder and drags him out of the bath and onto the kitchen floor. He is eight again and she is about to pull the axe out from behind her and he can’t get away because she has such a hold on him…

  
Gojyo wakes up violently, shuddering and still trying to pry her hand off his ear when it hits him. Hakuryuu is biting his ear and keening.

“The hell are you doing?” he says.

He presses down on the hinge of Hakuryuu’s mouth and his jaw pops open, freeing the earlobe. The juvenile dragon immediately takes to the air, flying in circles and crying loud enough to wake the dead. He doesn't calm down until Gojyo pulls back the covers and lights the lamp beside the bed. This inn, small and having seen better times, doesn't have electricity extending beyond the taproom, but the light from the kerosene lamp is better than nothing, especially considering it's the middle of the damn night and no moon to speak of.

Realization number two hits Gojyo. Shit. The weather must have taken a turn some since nightfall because it's raining now, gouts of water splattering against the shutters, a few stray drops hitting the inside windowsill. Hakkai is having a nightmare across the room. He thrashes in the second bed and Hakuryuu lands on the pillow beside Hakkai's head. Gojyo turns up the light as high as it will go before he goes to Hakkai's side.

Hakkai's good with knives, Gojyo knows. He's good with knives, scary with his  youkai-form claws, and an absolute menace with his offensive qi moves. And really, had Gojyo been thinking properly, not all muddled from his dream and the eight beers he'd had pre-bedtime, he would have thrown a pillow at Hakkai from across the room to break the nightmare.

But the fact of the matter is that Gojyo touches Hakkai, shakes him by the shoulder. Gojyo has no one to blame but himself when Hakkai startles and slashes him across the arm with a knife before he even opens his eyes.

"Owwwwwwwww," says Gojyo, before the hurt hits him. "Oww, fuck, dammit."

  
He lets go of Hakkai, who drops back against the bed. His eyes fly open and he is already apologizing as he sits up and reaches for his monocle.

"Gojyo?" says Hakkai. "I…oh my, I'm sorry."

Gojyo is bleeding onto Hakkai. Hakkai takes hold of Gojyo's arm, heedless of the blood.

"It's okay," says Gojyo. "Shoulda known better. You were having a nightmare."

"Yes, I was," says Hakkai. "And now here I am, making trouble for the person who tries to rescue me from the unpleasant things. Let me patch you up."

Gojyo hisses as Hakkai prods the injury. Hakkai frowns, squinting.

"We should do this on your bed," says Hakkai.

And damn, if that doesn't get the undivided interest of certain parts of Gojyo's anatomy.

"The light's better there, and I'd rather not make it scar if I don't have to," says Hakkai.

This sounds like an excuse to Gojyo, for all that it could be the unvarnished truth. Gojyo knows that Hakkai knows how he's affected him. Really, there's no way for Hakkai to not know, given that he's more or less at eye level with Gojyo's groin.

"Okay," says Gojyo. "Whatever you want."

He lets Hakkai lead him to the other bed. Hakuryuu, preternaturally clever, squeezes himself through the crack under the door and out of the room. Gojyo could almost thank the little dragon for the sudden and unexpected privacy. Not that he's expecting his perked interest will get him anywhere, but hey. Sorry-for-knifing-you sex would still be sex, and sex with Hakkai is never something he'd pass on.

But Hakkai doesn't say a word, merely sits him down and starts healing. Gojyo is vaguely disappointed. Though he'd been asleep minutes before, he feels more than alert enough for a round or two.

"Not tonight," says Hakkai.

Gojyo gives him the hairy eyeball. Hakkai has a blandly pleasant expression on his face, nothing to indicate he's suddenly developed the ability to read minds.

"I didn't say anything," says Gojyo.

"I can tell by the look in your eye," says Hakkai.

Gojyo decides, then, to play it up a little, see where it might get him.

"Oh really?" he says. "Then you know that I'm thinking about how it's been weeks, and even longer since then since we've had a room together. Alone."

He lets his uninjured arm brush against Hakkai's back. Hakkai shivers against him, and the glow of his qi dims.

"Gojyo, now is really not the time," Hakkai says. "I need to concentrate. Unless you'd like to have another hand in the middle of your arm."

Gojyo pauses. He blinks a few times, and then decides it's safe enough to let his fingers creep up and down Hakkai's spine.

"You can really do that?" says Gojyo.

"Well," says Hakkai. "I'm not entirely sure. Regeneration is a tricky thing. Remember, cancer is just a few cells that have continued to grow when they should not."

Gojyo pictures himself with strange, lumpy growths. He shudders and withdraws his hand from Hakkai.

"Thank you," said Hakkai.

His qi brightens again, and Gojyo holds himself still against the maddening itch that always comes with a healing. A couple minutes pass as he listens to the rain, and the warmth of Hakkai passes over him.

"So," says Gojyo. "You wanna talk about it?"

Somewhat sheltered by the hair that falls across his face, Gojyo looks up at Hakkai.

"Pardon?" says Hakkai.

There's something there, hiding behind Hakkai's mild manners.

"Your dream," says Gojyo.

"Ah," says Hakkai. "It was nothing to worry about, nothing out of the ordinary."

He removes his hand from Gojyo's arm.

"I believe you should be good as new," he says. "And again, my apologies."

Gojyo flexes. Nothing pulls strangely or hurts when it shouldn't.

"Don't worry about it," he says. "'S my fault in the first place."

"But still," says Hakkai. "I shouldn't have reacted so strongly."

He looks at Gojyo in that way he does, sometimes, like his insides are broken apart and he's only just discovered it. Hakkai stares down at the blood Gojyo's left behind and takes one shuddering breath after another.

"Hakkai," says Gojyo. "Quit it. And lemme get you a washcloth or something."

The quiet stillness in Hakkai scares Gojyo, and he wants to do something--anything--to wipe it away.

"I'm afraid I haven't any spare clean clothing," says Hakkai. "I'd meant to do the wash in the morning."

He inspects his shirt and frowns.

"You can borrow mine," says Gojyo. "If you want."

The idea of Hakkai wearing his clothes raises his interest again. Gojyo knows it's not right, bad timing and all, but he can't seem to help it. He can't help that his brain is wired--these days, anyway--to respond to Hakkai. Hakkai driving, Hakkai sleeping, Hakkai shopping for fucking supplies…it all provokes the same reaction. It's equal parts irritating and funny. A polite cough snaps Gojyo out of his thoughts.

"I said," said Hakkai. "If you have no objections, I'm going to wash up, and see what I can do about these stains. It won't inconvenience you if I refrain from dressing until morning, will it?"

"Uh," says Gojyo. "No?"

Inconvenience isn't really the word for it. Crap. He's going to have a wicked, wicked hard-on, and he knows that Hakkai's going to know about it because there's really no hiding anything under these thin covers.

"Well," says Hakkai. "I'll be back shortly."

As soon as Hakkai is out of sight, Gojyo scrambles up off the bed and strips out of his pajama pants and underwear. He leaves the nightshirt on for appearances' sake, but he's damned if he's going to spend the night trapped in the regrettably tight bottom half of his nightclothes. He pulls the covers back and slides underneath, shivering and waiting for the bed to warm up again.

  
Some time later, Gojyo realizes he's fallen asleep waiting for Hakkai to return. And not only has he not noticed Hakkai's coming back to the room, but he was apparently oblivious to Hakkai's bed-hopping. Gojyo is surprised to find Hakkai is in his bed, is practically in his arms. Hakkai lays a few inches to the front of Gojyo; they're more or less spooning, shoehorned to fit along the narrow width of the bed without falling off. Gojyo's arm drapes pleasantly over Hakkai's stomach. Hakkai himself is breathing softly, shallowly, and too irregularly to be asleep.

"Hakkai?" says Gojyo.

He can barely hear himself over the constant drumming of the rain.

"Hmm?" says Hakkai. "You don't mind, do you?"

"I'm naked from the waist down," blurts Gojyo. "So yeah. Sorry if, well, you know."

Really, Hakkai is warmer than any person has a right to be, even with the blankets trapping the heat. Gojyo controls himself, no matter how badly he'd like to close the gap between them. He wants to take advantage of their alone-but-together-ness, dammit. But Hakkai had turned him down earlier, and Gojyo is still fuzzy from however long he's been asleep in the meantime.

"I was aware," says Hakkai. "Your honesty is endearing."

Hakkai snags Gojyo's draped arm by the wrist and, very gently, leads his hand up and down. There's nothing but skin under Gojyo's fingers, and he can't help the surprised stupidity that takes over his brain.

"As you can see," says Hakkai. "I'm in a state of undress myself."

Gojyo swallows hard. Hakkai is unnaturally quiet in the bed for a breath or two, his hand wrapped around Gojyo's, but holding still.

"I'm afraid I made some assumptions when I returned from bathing," said Hakkai. "If you'd rather, I can return to my own bed."

Gojyo realizes this is both apology and permission. Hakkai's nice like that, sometimes. He strokes the edge of the scar that crosses Hakkai's stomach, the skin there no less familiar than his own old wounds.

"Stay," says Gojyo.

His voice comes out rough, which surprises him.

"Please," he adds.

"All right," says Hakkai.

Hakkai shivers under his touch and presses back against him. Hakkai radiates warmth, and Gojyo basks in it.  Hakkai lets go of Gojyo's hand, but Gojyo keeps it where it is, tracing the breadth of his stomach before gliding upward to his chest. Hakkai's heart beats swiftly under his fingers.

Despite what had happened earlier, Gojyo is pleased with how things seem to be turning out. The rain is easing up a bit, enough so that it isn't battering its way through the shutters any more, enough so that the sound of it is pleasant white noise of a level that--Gojyo hopes--Hakkai can ignore.  



End file.
